THE BLOSSOMING MOON
by theoctopus
Summary: The heaven emperor had 6 sons and daughters; the youngest daughter, Mizuki, was left behind while her older siblings were sent to guard the 5 sutras in the human world. However, when her brother went missing, Bosatsu suggests that the youngest shall take his place, but this time, guarding the Sutra with the Sanzo Ikkou.
1. Chapter 1

There was a loud knock on the door; a small figure groaned and rolled out of the bed. "Mizuki-sama! The Heaven Emperor wishes to see you!" the guard reported once she opened the door.

She frowned; her father never asked for her, his sixth and youngest daughter. Ever since she opened her icy blue eyes, she had been teased about how she was sixth in line to the throne and the "baby" in the Heaven's Court.

Only her second older brother, Ken-nii, treated her with respect and reprimanded her older siblings for constantly picking on her. However, ever since her five siblings were sent off to protect the five Sutras 5 years ago, she had been wandering about the Upper World alone.

In fact, she hadn't seen her father for nearly a year ever since the annual celebration when everyone in the Kingdom conjugated for a grand feast; even during that day, they didn't speak at all. It was a literal miracle that he had summoned her.

She put on her finest silk robes and tied her sleek black hair into a neat bun. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, fixing her pearl earrings. She beckoned closer to the mirror and stared directly into her own eyes.

They were oddly hypnotic; Ken-nii often said that they reminded him of the sea, changing colours with her mood.

Her gaze fell on the birthmark near her collarbone; each of her siblings had birthmarks with the characters of their powers. Ken-nii had the word "flame" etched on his arm and had the ability to conjure and control fire; her other siblings had "sound", "wind", "earth" and "lightning".

She pursed her lips as she saw the word "moon" clearly shown on her pale skin; she had no clue what her particular talent was. It seemed hopeless when she could only control when the full moon was, which was nothing compared to her sibling's power to shake the ground with just a thought.

There was another knock on the door and the guard popped his head inside the room, reminding, "Mizuki-sama, the Emperor is waiting in the throne room." She moved away from the mirror and headed for the door.

As she entered the throne room, she heard Kanzeon Bosatsu's familiar voice saying in a condescending tone, "My dear Emperor, there is no other choice. This has to be done." I walked into the room cautiously and bowed down to the bearded man sitting on the golden throne.

Bosatsu wore her usual revealing robes, smirking at her. The man gestured for her to look up at him; Mizuki could tell that the immortal emperor was showing unusual signs of fatigue with his eyebags and red eyes.

Her father averted his eyes as he spoke, "There has been some trouble in the human and youkai world. Youkai-kind has been going berserk after Gyou-mah-oh was sealed. So I sent your brothers and sisters to protect the Sutras. According to Bosatsu's report, your brother, Ken, was missing. Luckily, the Maten Sutra was kept safe by a mortal priest, Koumyou Sanzo."

Mizuki's mouth fell open as she processed the information that her all-powerful brother was missing.

The emperor continued, "Due to unfortunate circumstances, the priest passed away and now the Sutra is passed onto his student, Genjo Sanzo. Mizuki, I hereby present you with this mission of protecting the Maten Sutra. Do you accept this task, my child?" Mizuki's voice had left her; her head was filled with questions of where her brother was.

Bosatsu chuckled and remarked snidely, "Oh dear, your little girl is too afraid to take on this job which her big brother failed in." That snapped Mizuki back to reality and she turned to give the voluptuous woman a full-blown glare.

The older woman smiled maliciously and stated, "I take that back. I like this girl. She has got spirit. She will fit well with the Sanzo-ikou."

Emperor added, "Keep in mind that this is not an order. I am sure that anyone else in the Court can take your place."

Mizuki shook her head defiantly and stared straight into her father's jet black eyes, agreed, "I accept."

She thought she saw her father's sad grimace, but his face turned emotionless as usual within seconds. Bosatsu clapped excitedly and began explaining the trip to the human world.


	2. The Fall

"Is she pretty? She must be, right? I mean, she's the Emperor's daughter." Gojyo asked Sanzo, who just contacted Bosatsu about the sudden arrangement.

Sanzo ignored him and frowned; he had enough trouble with 3 demon partners. _**Babysitting**_ the god of gods's offspring would be too bothersome, but Bosatsu didn't take 'no' for an answer.

Goku asked, "Can she cook?"

The red-haired Gojyo laughed at the monkey, "You really just think about food, don't you? Such a simpleton."

"What did you say about me?"

"Sorry, was my vocabulary too difficult for a monkey to process?"

"You filthy cockroach!" Sanzo pulled out his gun and fired two warning shots dangerously near his comrades, shutting them up instantly.

He muttered darkly, "Shut up or I will put a bullet in you."

Hakkai smiled and reminded, "Sanzo, remember not to scowl at the princess. She might get scared." Sanzo rolled his eyes and started to smoke.

Mizuki tied the jewelled dagger that Ken gave her to her thigh under her robes, and checked her room once again before she headed out to meet Bosatsu. She inspected her palms and remembered that Bosatsu said that she would be able to bleed in the human realm. She would retain her enhanced strength, speed and recovery; however, she would be mortal.

As she strode past the guards, they bowed their heads in a silent farewell. Her hands were trembling slightly; she had never left the heavens in her life. While her older siblings travelled around for combat training, she stayed at the Heaven's Court, reading and wishing desperately for an adventure. Now that she, the "baby" of the warrior offspring of the Great Emperor, had her fair chance of bringing glory, was unnerving to Mizuki; she was too used to cheering in the background while her siblings led armies and won fights.

"There you are!" Bosatsu shouted as she pushed the young girl into the teleportation room. The woman was having the time of her life; her smile was so great that it put Mizuki off deeply.

Without warning, Bosatsu shoved her in front of the vortex in the middle of the room. Mizuki gasped and clung onto Bosatsu; Bosatsu giggled, saying, "Just joking, honey."

After catching her breath, she scrutinised the room for her father to send her away. Bosatsu read her mind and patted her head, stating, "The Emperor is busy so he was unable to send you off. However, he told me to give you this."

Mizuki reached for the bundle and unwrapped it carefully to reveal a jade bracelet with the character "moon" carved on it. She ran her fingers across the smooth green stone; "Beautiful, isn't it? It was especially made for you. Once you put it on, it is virtually impossible to take it off again. It has been blessed by the Emperor himself. Treasure it, kid."

Mizuki adjusted the bracelet as it clamped tightly onto her wrist; "Before you go, kid, remember that you will be mortal once you leave this world. And good luck." And this time, she kicked Mizuki with full force through the porthole.

Mizuki didn't have time to scream before darkness engulfed her; her hair was whipping against her face as she fell endlessly. As sudden as the fall, she felt the ground against her body and the blaze of the sun on her face. She groaned as she sat up, unaware that she was the centre of attention in the village market.

The crowd maintained their distance cautiously, murmuring, "She fell from the sky. What is she? Is she a youkai?" Mizuki pushed herself up from the ground, and someone in the crowd screamed, "Don't move, monster!" She stared at the middle-aged guy who shouted, and more people began, "Look at its eyes. They keep changing colours. What a freak."

Mizuki bit her lip; this situation started to worsen as the crowd began to throw stones at her. At that precise moment, there was a loud howl in the distance followed by worried gasps from the ground. "The youkai are coming!" Within minutes, the crowd dispersed, leaving Mizuki alone with the youkai gang.

She reached for the dagger strapped to her thigh as the leader beckoned towards her. The leader had grey spiky hair with the distinctive elongated ears and a stern look on his face. She gulped as she saw his muscular build and intimidating piercings; her enhanced strength and agility could not protect her from opponents with a lot more fighting experience.

She bent her knees slightly to be ready to jump away from his impending attack, which never came. To her surprise, the stern look on the youkai's face was replaced with a compassionate smile.

"Are you alright? You're bleeding." he asked gently.

Taken aback by this sudden kindness, Mizuki stammered, "Oh... I...I'm fine!" She pointed at her cut on her face, which began to heal immediately.

The leader remarked, "You are a strong one, aren't you? Damn the humans. They keep harassing youkai for no reason." She felt his unwavering gaze on her, and shifted uncomfortably.

"It isn't safe for you to travel alone especially with the humans around."

She nodded and explained, "I should be meeting with someone called Sanzo."

A couple of youkai in the gang exchanged looks and the leader grinned, suggesting, "Sanzo? I will take you to him!" Mizuki shrugged and agreed, "Sure!"

Goku tapped his fingers on the table impatiently, while Gojyo shot the clock dirty looks every five seconds. Even Hakkai sat in the living room, frowning at the clock. Goku whined, "She's 45 minutes and 39 seconds late now..."

Gojyo added, "The monkey's right for once. The gal's late."

Hakkai turned to Sanzo, flipping through the same newspaper the tenth time, and proposed, "Sanzo, should we go look for Mizuki? She might be lost."

Gojyo added, "Or abducted by some pervert!" Goku shook his head and stated, "Or eaten!" Sanzo sighed and put out his cigarette.


	3. MEMORY

After following the youkai leader, Tetsu for 15 minutes, Mizuki could already tell something was off. She was led into the deserted woods away from the village town centre; her heartbeat raced as the last remaining hint of civilisation disappeared from sight.

Out of the corner of her eye, the other twenty-or-so youkai were watching her like hawks. She knew if she didn't escape now, no one would be able to find her in the woods; so before Tetsu could turn his back, she took off in full speed in the opposite direction.

However, her ankle was caught in a tight loop of a rope held by Tetsu. She was dragged mercilessly against the soil, while she desperately thrashed around and clawed at the ground. Tetsu tutted as he said, "Not so quick, girl. Do you know how long I waited for another one of Heaven's royalty? The mark on your collarbone is just like another that I have seen on another's arm."

Mizuki stopped struggling and repeated, "Arm? Ken-nii? Did you know Ken-nii?"

Tetsu grabbed the girl roughly by the neck and taunted, "Yeah, he was crying and begging for me to let him go like a wimp when I dealt with him."

Her blood ran cold as she imagined her brother's corpse; "So you finally shut up. That's good. It will make _**eating**_ you easier."

Mizuki turned to stare at Tetsu's hysterical expression in disbelief, stuttering, "Ea..eat?"

He stroked her cheek lovingly, staring hungrily at her exposed neck and breathed, "Yes...I will devour your living flesh and drink your blood to become the strongest immortal youkai! Something that Kougaiji-sama can't promise me."

Mizuki felt his foul hot breath on her neck and closed her eyes, praying to the heavens for the Emperor's mercy. Without warning, there was a loud gunshot and Mizuki felt something warm splash onto her face. Tetsu released her immediately with an anguished yell, clutching his bleeding shoulder.

Still in shock, she touched the liquid on her face and inspected her blood-stained hands. Her body shivered as her eyes reflected the deep red colour; her head ached as she heard a woman screaming and baby crying. Mizuki frowned and tried to focus on the weird memory, but the sharp pain in her head stopped her from trying. Gasping for breath, she fell to the ground with her eyes closed. Gradually, the sound of fighting dulled and darkness swallowed her.

Mizuki groaned as she woke up in a bed of a hotel room; her head still ached.

She sat up gingerly, and the man with a monocle and a white dragon on his shoulder suggested, "Don't force yourself, Mizuki-chan." Mizuki remembered the blood on her hands and inspected them to find them clean.

Another man with long red hair and red eyes noted, "Hakkai cleaned you up. You were covered in blood when we took you back." Mizuki turned to look at the red-haired man and he suddenly pounced on her, grabbing her chin to look at him.

She backed away from him and stared at him with wide eyes. "Mizuki-chan, you have very pretty eyes. The shade of blue keeps changing. Interesting," he commented.

"Stop scaring the girl, Gojyo," Hakkai reprimanded.

Mizuki could smell the lingering smell of smoke in the room and turned to see the source, a blonde priest with bright purple eyes. A much shorter brunette boy noted, "That's Sanzo."

She slipped her leg out of the covers and pushed herself up from the bed, walking towards the smoking man. The priest kept his eyes on the newspaper on the table, but Mizuki tried not to notice and bowed, saying courteously, "I am Mizuki, the sixth daughter of the Heaven Emperor. From now on, I will be trying my best to protect the Sutra."

Sanzo glared at the girl despite of her impeccable manners, and growled, "You're a burden. You can't even defend yourself from the youkai. You fainted at the sight of blood. I don't need a liability like you." "Sanzo!" Hakkai, Gojyo and Goku shouted indignantly at Sanzo's cold disdain for the newcomer. The insult stung Mizuki's heart deeply; she bit her lip as tears started to well up in her eyes.

Goku stuck his tongue at Sanzo and grabbed her arm to pull her away from the bully.

Gojyo assured, "I will personally kill anyone who harms you! So don't worry about it!"

Hakkai took a napkin and dapped the tears from her face, whispering, "Sanzo just needs some time to get used to you. He doesn't mean it." She nodded and forced a smile.

After a few minutes, she faked a yawn and was led to her bedroom by the worried trio. Once the door was closed, she clasped a hand to her mouth so as not to let out a single cry. Two steady streams of tears flowed down her cheeks, staining her silk robes.

She stared outside the window at the full moon, reminiscing the nights when Ken would come back victorious from his battles and bathe in the moonlight together. She whispered to the moon like she used to, "Ken-nii, where are you? Tonight is a full moon. Can you see it from where you are now?" She pushed the thought of her brother killed out of her mind; her brother was too strong to have fallen into the hands of Tetsu.

The dull ache in her head still hadn't subsided; Mizuki's eyebrows furrowed as she struggled to remember who the screaming voice belonged to or how she had that memory. She made a mental promise to herself, "I need to become stronger to find Ken-nii and complete the mission. Maybe along the way, I will solve the mystery of that memory."


	4. The Artist

Hakkai carried the light girl into the jeep, as Sanzo had ordered them to leave tonight. He placed her gently in the backseat, while Goku and Gojyo supported her. The wind caused her sleek black hair to whip gracefully in the air; Gojyo observed the child and stated, "I never expected the goddess to be so young and inexperienced. From what I've heard, they were trained to be perfect warriors. I mean, even Gyuumaou was killed by one of them."

Sanzo explained, "Bosatsu told me that they grow physically according to their psychological maturity. Mizuki clearly was never trained for this."

The blond monk sighed in exasperation and continued, "And somehow I am stuck as a babysitter for this thing."

Goku snored in the back loudly as he fell asleep against Mizuki, and Hakkai mused, "Wasn't that what you thought about Goku at first?"

Sanzo ignored his comment, and took a deep breath of smoke. Gojyo couldn't take his eyes off the glowing pure being in the moonlight, and muttered, "I wonder if she'll grow up to as pretty as her legendary sister, Amane-sama. And then I won't seem like such a paedo."

Hakkai grunted in disgust at this inappropriate comment.

Mizuki was on someone's strong back with her arms wrapped around this person's neck, murmuring, "Ken-nii..." As she opened her eyes to see Hakkai's brown hair instead of Ken's familiar raven hair, she jumped in shock and nearly fell off his back.

Luckily, she steadied herself and stood up gingerly, apologising immediately, "Sorry for making you carry me, Hakkai..." He smiled at the embarrassed girl and asked, "Did you rest well?"

Sanzo, who was in the same hotel room, snapped, "Course she did. She slept all the way to the next village." Her face grew red in shame and she bowed instantly to Sanzo in apology, saying, "I am so sorry..."

Hakkai patted her head and reassured, "Don't mind Sanzo. It seemed like you had a nice dream. You kept saying 'Ken-nii'." Her face turned to a deeper shade of red and Gojyo raised his eyebrows at the girl's tomato red cheeks.

Hakkai asked slowly, "Is he Mizuki-chan's boyfriend?" Even Sanzo turned to look at the flustered girl out of curiosity. She shook her head profusely and replied, "He is my brother and my beloved."

Sanzo nearly choked on his cigarette and Gojyo's mouth fell open; everyone in the room was still shocked that Mizuki was into incest. Hakkai bent down slightly to stare into Mizuki's ocean blue eyes and repeated, "Brother?"

She tilted her head in confusion and explained nonchalantly, "Yes. I have been betrothed to Ken-nii since I was born."

Sanzo muttered darkly, "The people upstairs sure are barbarians."

Gojyo too shivered at the thought of Mizuki betrothed to her brother and questioned, "Mizuki-chan, isn't that...er...a bit weird?"

She merely shook her head and stated, "All my siblings are betrothed to one another. In fact, Ken-nii was sent to Earth five years ago and went missing. That's why the Emperor sent me to guard the sutra."

There was silence in the room as everyone digested the information; suddenly Goku said out of the blue, "Does this 'Ken' know you're here?"

Mizuki shrugged and pressed her hand on her warm chest, stating with faith, "But Ken-nii is still in this realm. I can feel him."

Hakuryuu mewled quietly and jumped onto her shoulder, licking her cheeks. Sanzo stared at the giggling girl and looked away abruptly; he had heard chilling rumours about a rogue saintly being snatching 3 out of 5 sutras for Lady Koushou.

If the rumours were true, the priests guarding the sutras were slaughtered mercilessly. Another reason that Sanzo wasn't that welcoming towards another guardian from the heavens was that all the remaining guardians seemed to have abandoned their missions and perhaps even betrayed their cause.

Raito, the God of Lightning, went missing with his sutra taken and his accompanying priests long dead. Jiima, the God of Earth, have been rumoured to be so gravely injured that he had been in hiding ever since his sutra had been stolen too. Fuyuko, the Goddess of Wind, was once captured by Lady Koushou and no one heard from her since. Amane, the Goddess of Sound, claimed fame by proclaiming herself the protector of the great capital village and enlisting the village's help to keep her sutra safe.

No one had heard much about Ken, the God of Fire, apart from the fact that he had flaming red eyes. Sanzo frowned at the ignorant girl before him, who knew nothing about the real circumstance she was in; she was clearly sent on a suicide mission.

Mizuki felt Sanzo's unwavering stare on her and walked away with Hakryuu still perched on her shoulder. There was a loud growl from Goku's stomach, and Hakkai chuckled, breaking the silence and suggesting, "Time for dinner?"

Mizuki couldn't help but nod too as she hadn't eaten for a day since the road trip. As they walked downstairs to the restaurant in the hotel, she caught sight of three men in hoods huddled together in a table. However, she was immediately distracted by the steaming dim sum brought by the young waitress.

Within minutes, Goku and Gojyo were stuffing their faces with delicious buns; Hakkai sighed in disappointment and handed a meat bun to Mizuki. She thanked him and began to feast on the savoury bun, feeding bits and pieces to Hakuryuu.

After clearing the table of food, she realised that Hakkai and Sanzo were staring at the suspicious-looking hooded guests across the room. She also noticed a rather large package on one of the chairs around their table. At that precise moment, the young waitress couldn't restrain her curiosity and reached for the package; "What do you think you're doing, Miss?" the hooded man growled ominously, snatching her wrist and tightening his grip gradually.

The waitress screamed in pain and pulled at his clothes, revealing his spikey pink hair and elongated ears. The hooded trio were clearly youkai and the customers in the restaurant yelled hysterically, running towards the exit. Within seconds, they were the only ones left in the room with the three youkai and waitress.

Gojyo warned, "Hey, better release the cute girl or you are in for some trouble." Goku and Hakkai already stood up, readying themselves for the fight. Mizuki's heart began to beat quickly; she forced herself to stand up and took her jewelled dagger out.

Hakkai caught sight of her shaking hands and reassured, "Mizuki-chan, we'll take care of this. Just stay back and Hakuryuu will protect you!"

Without warning, Sanzo shot the other two youkai in the heads, leaving the main youkai. Luckily, the waitress escaped from his grip during the confusion.

The remaining youkai raised his hands in surrender, begging, "Please...don't! I won't do it again!" Mizuki was still in shock, seeing the two youkai drop dead in seconds, and was flabbergasted to hear the click of Sanzo's gun, readying the next shot. She knew that the pink-haired youkai would soon follow the fates of his companions, and jumped towards Sanzo, grabbing his hand with the gun.

The shot missed the youkai, who couldn't believe his luck and left with his package. There was complete silence in the room; Sanzo shrugged the girl off him and aimed his gun at her. "Sanzo!" the other three shouted worriedly. Mizuki stared determinedly at the gun, which was aimed directly at her forehead.

Sanzo growled, "What do you think you're doing? You let him go!" She felt Hakuryuu shiver slightly at the sight of the gun, but she held her ground, defending herself, "He surrendered, and no one was in danger! Aren't you a priest? You should show mercy to those who repent!"

Sanzo glared at the child, warning, "Mark my words. You will regret this decision." No one said anything until Hakkai cleared his throat and stated, "It's late. Should we head out again?"


End file.
